Clinton to write memoirs

(CNN) -- Former president Bill Clinton announced this week he would write his memoirs for the publishing company Alfred P. Knopf. The book, which still must be written, will hit bookshelves some time in 2003.

Terms were not disclosed, but The New York Times and Washington Post both reported that Clinton's advance exceeds $10 million, which would make it a record advance for a nonfiction book. The current record advance for nonfiction was $8.5 million for worldwide rights to a book by Pope John Paul II in 1994.

VIDEO Clinton will write his memoirs in a deal reportedly worth $10 million. CNN's Eileen O'Connor reports (August 6) Play video (QuickTime, Real or Windows Media)

Clinton's wife, Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, received between $7 million and $8.5 million for her memoirs. Her book will be published by Simon & Schuster.

Both Clinton and Knopf -- the flagship imprint of the Knopf Publishing Group, a division of Random House, Inc. -- were happy with the deal.

"I am very pleased to be associated with the distinguished publishing house of Alfred A. Knopf," Clinton said in a statement issued by the publisher.

RESOURCES Timeline of the Clinton years, 1993 to 2001

"President Clinton is one of the dominant figures on the global stage," Sonny Mehta, Knopf's president and editor in chief, said in a statement. "He has lived an extraordinary life, and he has a great story to tell."

Mehta wouldn't say whether the book would delve into the Monica Lewinsky scandal, which marred much of Clinton's second term and led to his impeachment in December 1998.

"All I know is I came away from my discussions with him feeling it was going to be a pretty thorough and candid telling of his life, and that he was going to talk about all the principal events of his presidency," Mehta told The Associated Press. "The heart of the book is what you'd expect it to be. The heart of it will be his presidency."

Robert Gottlieb will edit the book. He has also worked with Nobel laureate Toni Morrison, the late historian Barbara Tuchman and the late publisher Katharine Graham. Knopf itself is considered one of the industry's most prestigious publishers.

Rival publishers were caught off-guard by the announcement, with an executive at one commenting "it looks like they did an end run around everybody," Reuters reports.

Clinton's representative, Washington attorney Robert Barnett, told the AP that Clinton intends to write much of the book himself, aided by researchers, and that he's already worked out much of the work "in his head."

Will the book make back the money? Multimillion-dollar advances are notoriously risky, with a book having to sell hundreds of thousands -- if not millions -- of copies to earn a profit. Those numbers are usually only reached by authors such as Stephen King and John Grisham. Presidential memoirs usually sell far less.

But even rival publishers believe Clinton's book could be very successful.

"Clinton defies all rules; we've learned that," David Rosenthal, Simon & Schuster's publisher, told the AP. "We're disappointed we didn't get him, but I'm sure he will write a good book and I'm sure it will be a very big-selling book."